Barry Curran is the Area General Manager of Sheraton Hotel Lagos, a well-known brand in the hospitality business in Nigeria. Over the years, the hotel has excelled, becoming one of the most popular and preferred in Lagos, and thereby notching a niche for itself in the hospitality industry through its excellent delivery of quality services to guests. But the hotel, according Mr. Curran is not resting on its oars as it embarked on multimillion dollar renovation programme aimed at upgrading and sustaining the brand’s standards. In this exclusive interview with atqnews.com, Curran reveals more about what to expect from the hotel during the year.
We would like you to introduce yourself?
My name is Barry Curran, I am the Area General Manager for Starwood Hotels in Nigeria. Right now we have 5 five hotels operating. We have one that we are getting ready to open which is in Ikot-Ekpene. It is a Four Points hotel, and then we have another 5 under discussion and they are already signed but not yet under construction.
What experience do you have in Hotel business?
Basically all my working life! I went to Hotel College when I came out of secondary school and I got a degree in Shannon College Hotel Management in Ireland. And then I moved into Forte which is a UK based hotel company. And I worked for them in Dublin and in London and, then subsequently, I moved overseas with them to George Town Rieana , South America. I moved from there to Cairo, and spent 15 years in Egypt. Initially, running a hotel, and then running a cluster of hotels as an area manager there as well; and then I came here about one year and 10 months ago.
When did you transfer from Forte to Starwood?
Forte was actually acquired by another company called Grenada, and was subsequently acquired by another company which was called Nimora. It was a banking company. It was then sold to Meridian brand of Starwood and I was in Meridian at that time. So, I went into Starwood. That was about 10 years ago. My longest stay was in Egypt. So, I’ve been in South America, Europe and Africa. This is my first time in sub-Sahara Africa.
Most hotel managers probably started from food and beverage, wine to other areas…
I actually started in Human Resources and then moved into food and beverage; and then moved into rooms, and then I became executive system manager and general manager. So I have had most of the disciplines.
How would you describe the hospitality business in Nigeria?
Well, it is quite unique in so far as it is almost exclusively targeted at the corporate business market. There is not a lot of leisure. If you look at other countries, they have a much higher proportion of leisure resort type of hotels, but those are yet to evolve in Nigeria. That will not, come until the actual inbound tourism market is developed, which has a whole sets of requirements in terms of infrastructure, air carrying, visa access, and etcetera. So, it is primarily targeted at the corporate business market. Basically it’s a mix of the inbound and the ones back here. There is quite a lot of national corporate activity with people doing business from city to city requiring hotels either for meetings or for accommodation; and then clearly that is the traditionally inbound market.
It is always believed that doing business in Nigeria is difficult, much more so for international brands. What is your experience with Sheraton and the Starwood brand?
You know, the Sheraton brand was the first international brand in Nigeria. So, we have a lot of experience. We have a lot of infrastructure in place as a company in Nigeria to help us do business well; and frankly speaking, we don’t find it difficult to do business in Nigeria. We have been here for a long time.
For the demand in the hospitality business, do you think most international brands have the manpower to meet the standards expected of these rated services?
I think so. Most international brands today have a lot of experience worldwide. Most of them have been around for a long time. They have operated either in this country or countries similar to it. So, that gives then the knowhow and they also have quite a big support structure behind them; wherever their area, regional or head office maybe.
So, you believe the local manpower is enough to meet the expectation of…
Absolutely! You are not being diplomatic! Not in the slightest. Frankly speaking, if you look at our ratings and our reviews, and if you look at the feedbacks that we get from our guests constantly; and you can ask anybody in our business this, the thing that is mentioned most frequently is the quality of the service.
The Sheraton Lagos Hotel is a recognized market leader being the first international brand. And having been dominant in the environment, how do you plan to maintain this position and what are your ambitions for the future?
You are quite right we have been around for quite a long time. We are in the middle of a very substantial renovation programme. We have 107 rooms under renovation right now, including all of our suites. They will start to come back into operation within the next four weeks. We have also replaced virtually the entire infrastructure in the hotel in the last two years including all the elevators and the entire air conditioning system from top to bottom, a complete new boiler system for the whole hotel, new kitchens, new piping and plumbing. So, a huge amount of infrastructure work has been completed. All of these projects I am telling you about have been completed. And the new rooms will be the first guest phasing element of the project to come on line. Once that is done, we will then move ahead with stage two and stage three. Stage two being all of the public areas. And then stage three the remainder of the bedrooms.
How does this refurbishment differ from the ones in the past?
This is the first full arm refurbishment that is being done in this hotel since it was built. In my opinion they are the best rooms in Nigeria. I have seen a lot of hotel rooms, I have seen a lot of products and I have seen a lot of the new hotels, this is something completely different. I put it on a level with the hotels rooms in Dubai!
Sheraton started the international brand in Nigeria but today there are so many of those followers. How do you maintain the standard and sustain the brand equity you earned in the midst of all these competition?
Obviously when we came in the beginning we were the first one and there wasn’t that much competition. It is absolutely a fact that over the last three to five years in particular, significant amount of competition has come into the market. Frankly speaking that is a good thing. I think competition is healthy. I think it is good for the market, it is good for consumers and it certainly ensures that everybody stays on their toes. And people will be more competitive in terms of their pricing. And in addition to that it is good for the country, because having good infrastructure is part of being able to do business internationally for Nigeria as an entity. And part of that infrastructure is good hotels.
Is Sheraton still the desired brand? Some years ago everybody who lands at the airport will ask for a Sheraton. Are you still at that point?
I personally believe that we are still the brand of choice for a lot of the businessmen that come to Nigeria. I still think we have a dominant position. However, we don’t sit back and think that that will be the case forever without us delivering the goods. That is one of the reasons millions and millions of dollars are being invested in this hotel. Firstly, to sort out the infrastructure and this is the key issue in Nigeria. We have seen a number of instances recently, particularly in Lagos, where infrastructure has let hotels down and has impacted their ability to perform within the market for a period of time. So, we clearly saw that as number one, and then number two is the new room product that I told you which our guests will come to enjoy.
So, you believed that you will become the number one brand in Nigeria like you used to be?
We believe we are the number one brand in Nigeria. However, we are also cognizance of the fact that as competition becomes stiffer we need to raise our game and particularly in terms of the product.
If I meet somebody who has used your hotel before, who felt your brand wasn’t at the top, what would I tell him to expect at the new Sheraton that you will be unveiling?
Tell him to come and see me in four weeks’ time and I will introduce him to the product!
Starwood today is the brand with the largest number of hotels considering the slowdown in the growth of the Marriott group, what is the future of the Starwood brand in Nigeria?
Well, we have 10 brands; in fact we now have 11 brands. Only three of them are currently represented in the country; that is Sheraton, Meridian and Four Points. We have recently signed a Western for Abuja, which is another upscale brand that we have and we look forward to bringing our other brands to the country and to the Nigerian market. So, there is plenty of room for growth, as Nigeria grows we see ourselves growing too.
In 2016, how many of these Starwood properties do we expect to see in Nigeria?
By the end of 2016 we would have opened one more. I also expect to have construction started on three more. So, that would take it up to nine. Six facilities operating while three are under construction. And then, after that, the following year I see additional projects starting in construction as well.
All your Starwood properties are the ones you manage, is there any plan to own or invest in any of the hotels?
Not at this time. We are essentially a management company. The company has been moving to an asset light model over the last seven, eight years and that means focusing the management side of our business and less involved in the ownership element of our business.
How do I differentiate a Sheraton brand from a Meridian brand and Four Point and from a Western?
We have very, very clear brand positioning for each of our brands and this is really important particularly when you get into the lifestyle element of branding.
For a traveler, what are those memories that I should have of a Sheraton brand?’
I think, first and foremost, it’s the people. And again, going back to all the comments that we see on almost all of our feedbacks, the first thing that is mentioned is the people over and over again. And a lot of Nigerians who I speak to about this are sceptical and surprised, but it’s actually the fact. Our people are what make the experience in this hotel.
In the past, Lagos was one of the most expensive cities in the world but recently it has gone down. Yet there was a study that says after Addis and Lagos has the highest priced hotels. Are hotels in Lagos over-priced?
At first glance that might appear to be the case. However, as you know doing business in Nigeria has a unique cost that may not exist in other markets. For example, a very high proportion of what we use we import. Importation costs are very high in Nigeria. In adding to that, we have challenges with infrastructure. So, you have the diesel element, generating your own electricity which adds to the cost tremendously. And there is much other cost such as that that we unfortunately have to add into our overall selling price.
You talked about the leisure business; with hotel rooms rate like that, do you think it will ever make itself appealing to the leisure traveller to use a Sheraton brand in Nigeria?
Well, I honestly hoped that by the time the leisure market becomes a significant element of the overall market mix in Nigeria that things would have changed. Because frankly speaking leisure is not around the corner. A lot of things have to be put in place first to attract the leisure traveler. You are competing with very well established resort destinations worldwide and for them to come here the basic infrastructure, I don’t just means road and electricity etcetera, airport has to be in place. So, that is going to take a good number of years and I’m hopeful that by the time that happens, a lot of the unnecessary cost that impact our business will no longer be there. So let me give you an example of what I am talking about: it will be my hope that going forward in the short-medium term, that Nigeria would have developed a significant manufacturing industry within the country. Which will mean that a lot of what we have to import today we don’t have to import. That will dramatically reduce the cost of running hotels. In addition to that, I can see in the not too distant future stable power and I know it is high on the agenda of the new government. If that comes, again that will dramatically reduce the cost of running these businesses. You can imagine generating electricity for a hotel of this size for 10 hours a day or nine hours a day, every day is very expensive
Which of your brand outside the Ibom is good for leisure?
The only property we have at the moment that is really focused on the leisure market is Le Meridian Ibom.
Have you tested pepper soup yet?
Yes I have! I actually tasted it on my second day in Nigeria, and at that stage I wasn’t ready for it! I can tell you that my ability to take spicy food has improved dramatically during my time in Nigeria. And my children are very happy about that because they like spicy food?
Where is your favourite destination?
Home! It is home for me, at the moment. Well, I have two homes; my family home is in Ireland where my mother and brother and sisters live. I also have a home in Spain which I am hopefully visiting next week. And I will meet my wife, my children and my father in-law there. So my best trips are always home.
